The University of Minnesota College Bowl Club is pleased to announce that it is working with Ezra Lyon and R. Robert Hentzel to host a Deep Bench collegiate quiz bowl tournament on the weekend of Saturday, October 7, 2006.
The Deep Bench format was designed in 1995 by Carleton College coach (and Carper Award recipient) Eric Hillemann and former Minnesota coach Dave Dorman. It brings a greater element of team-selection strategy to quiz bowl by having players compete both on regular, four-person teams ("quads") but also as singles or doubles. The event is won by the school that accumulates the most total points across the quads, singles, and doubles matches.
Date:
Initial invitations are being sent to eleven teams. If ten or eleven of those teams are able to attend, the event will, of necessity, be a two-day affair beginning on Friday, October 6. If nine or fewer teams attend, the tournament will take place completely on Saturday, October 7.
The final field size of seven indicates that this will be a one-day tournament.
Location:
The tournament will be held in Blegen Hall on the West Bank Campus of the University of Minnesota. The initial meeting will be in Blegen 150 with check-in starting at 8:30. Please note that this is not the same building that the 2005 NAQT SCT and the 2005 Minnesota Undergraduate Tournament were held in; it's not even on the same side of the river.
Schedule:
The exact schedule will be announced when the field size is fixed. Check-in will start at 8:30 a.m. There will be a brief meeting at 9:00 and then games will commence. The singles and doubles matches will be played first to be followed by the quads matches. There will be a one-hour break for lunch around noon.
Eligibility and Qualification:
This tournament will be run according to NAQT's Collegiate Eligibility Rules with two exceptions:
Staffing:
The majority of the moderators for the tournament will be drawn from current players on the Minnesota quiz bowl team, alumni/ae, and collegiate players from other institutions. Participating players will be asked to assist with the running of the tournament during their byes by keeping score for quads matches and reading doubles and singles matches. This is an expectation of participating players; no additional discount is given. Full-time moderators that accompany teams will earn a discount.
Format:
Each participating school must send a contingent of at least eight players to the Deep Bench tournament. These players will be assigned to two four-person teams ("quads"), two singles teams, and three doubles teams. No player may play on both a singles and a doubles team, but a player may compete in both quads and (one of) singles or doubles. The expectation is that each school will send exactly eight players.
The quads and singles are designated "First" and "Second" while the doubles are designated "First," "Second," and "Third." Any victory in a "First" match (whether in quads, singles, or doubles) is worth 5 points to the score. Victories in "Second" and "Third" matches are worth 4 and 3 points respectively.
The winner of the tournament is the school that accumulates the most total points. Ties by total points will be broken by total points scored by First (quads, singles, doubles) teams.
Each of the eight teams fielded by a school will play a round-robin against the other teams in its class. That is, each First Quads team will play every other First Quads team and every Second Doubles will play every other Second Doubles team.
The exact arrangement of the matches throughout the day will be determined later.
Quads matches will be played on regular quiz bowl packets containing 24 tossups and 24 bonuses each. Each game will involve two, 10-minute halves. Singles and doubles matches will be played on packets of 24 tossups in a single, 10-minute period.
The games will be played according to NAQT rules including powermarks.
Rosters:
Schools must send their roster (and team assignments) to the tournament director by Wednesday, October 4. These rosters will be posted on the Internet for other teams to consider. At the tournament itself, each school will have the opportunity to switch one assignment.
Teams' preliminary rosters (PDF) are now available.
Questions:
This is a packet-submission tournament. Each participating school is expected to submit one packet of 30 tossups and 25 bonuses prior to the tournament. This packet may be written by the school's entire contingent.
Schools may also submit one or two additional sets of 26 tossups for use in the singles and doubles play for additional discounts. These may also be written by the school's entire contingent.
This will be an NAQT-style tournament with question length, packet distribution, and other characteristics similar to those found at events using official NAQT questions. The packet specification is now available.
Quads packets should be the same difficulty as NAQT's Division I Sectionals questions and the singles and doubles packets should be the same difficulty as NAQT's regular Invitational Series.
The copyright on all submitted questions is transferred to the University of Minnesota.
Participating schools will receive electronic and paper versions of the questions used at the event.
The chief editor for this tournament will be Ezra Lyon. All packets (team, singles, and doubles) should be e-mailed to him.
Outside Packets:
The tournament directors are looking for outside writers to contribute singles and doubles packets to complement those written by teams. Any person or organization who submits one set of 26 tossups will receive a free electronic copy of all of the questions used at the event.
Further Questions:
If you have any further questions, please don't hesitate to contact R. Robert Hentzel by e-mail or phone (952.888.2277).
Invitations:
These schools have been invited to participate in the 2006 Deep Bench:
Schools that would like to attend but which weren't invited, should contact R. Robert Hentzel to express their interest. If spots open up due to the refusal of invitations, other interested schools may be contacted.
Registration:
Please e-mail R. Robert Hentzel if you are interested in attending or in receiving updates on the tournament.
Cost:
The base registration fee for a school is $165 (note that this covers the equivalent of two, four-person teams).
| Discounts | |
| Working buzzer system (maximum 1/school) | $10.00 |
| Experienced moderator (unlimited) | $25.00 |
| Per extra packet of tossups (maximum 2/school) | $15.00 |
| Promising extra packet but not delivering | + $50.00 |
| Team packet in by September 17 | $25.00 |
| Team packet in by September 24 | $10.00 |
| Team packet in by September 30 | No charge |
| Team packet in by October 2 | + $25.00 |
| Team packet in by October 4 | + $50.00 |
If you plan on submitting extra packets of tossups, please notify the tournament directors by September 25. Such packets must be submitted by October 2. Teams bringing experienced moderators with them should let the tournament directors know that by September 25 to receive the listed discount.
Teams will be able to pay when they check in at the tournament site. Please make checks out to "University of Minnesota."
Teams that want to send a check in advance, should address it to:
MPAC-College Bowl
Student Activities Office
Coffman Memorial Union, Room 126
300 Washington Ave. SE
Minneapolis, MN 55455
Prizes:
The top three schools overall will receive trophies. Trophies will also be given to the top three First Quads team and the top Second Quads team. Individual trophies will be given to the top three First Singles and First Doubles players as well as the top Second Singles, Second Doubles, and Third Doubles players.
Mirrors:
The University of Minnesota College Bowl Club is interested in licensing these questions for use at mirror Deep Bench tournaments around the country that take place after October 7, 2006. The cost to do so is $30 per school that participates in the tournament.
Further Questions:
If you have further questions about this tournament, please don't hesitate to contact R. Robert Hentzel by e-mail or phone (952.888.2277, central time).